Hundreds take to the trails at IceMan joined by a giant Ice Cream

Race report: IceMan, the third event in the Human Race Off-Road Trail Running and Duathlon Series - Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Army Training Grounds in Frimley, Surrey, was awash with athletes, bikes and dogs early Saturday morning for IceMan; the third event in the Human Race Off-Road Trail Running and Duathlon Series.

Over 800 competitors gathered in the event village before 9am ready to take part in one of three races, an 11km or 16km trail run or an Off-Road duathlon. The Duathlon comprised of an 11km run followed by 18km on the bike and finally a 5km run. As ever with the Human Race Off-Road Series, amongst the sea of two legged competitors were a number of the four legged variety ready to join, or should we say “pull”, their owners around the course in the “dogs” category!

Supporters from Rainbow Trust, the Official Charity of the series, were alongside friends and family of the competitors to cheer on the 11km trail runners who were set off at 9.30am, joined by a rather odd looking athlete in the form of a giant ice cream. Anyone who was able to beat the ice cream across the finish line was rewarded with a prize, so well done to all who managed that as rumour has it the ice cream has Rio 2016 in its sights! One competitor who certainly achieved this feat was Martin Threakall, who was the clear winner in the men’s field crossing the line in 49:31, over 2 minutes ahead of his closest rival David Herron.

The second athlete to finish, and winner of the women’s 11km race was Sophie Coleman (54:41). Sophie spent the morning fuelling her competitors from her position working in the Oat Hut van in the event village. After a quick change she headed to the start line to take part and impressively she was back working within 10 minutes of finishing, perhaps porridge is the secret to achieving trail running success. Sophie Horsburgh (55:33) and Heike Godwin (56:11) finished in second and third respectively.

Photos (l-r): Ice cream! 16k winner Dan Falconar. 11k winner Sophie Coleman

Also amongst the 11km runners was Human Race’s very own Flo Morgan-Wood, who was running in her first ever Trail Running event. Well done to Flo who completed the course in 1:15:26.

The second race of the day was the 16km Trail Run, with the results over this distance counting towards the overall Off-Road Series Leader board. Dan Falconar went into today’s race with a 100% record winning both of the events in the series so far. With scores from the best three of four events counting towards the Championship, victory today would seal the prizes and prize money for the athlete from the ONE Triathlon club. Falconar didn’t disappoint romping home in a mightily impressive 1:05:35 ahead of Ewan Taylor (1:07:40) and Simon Reeves (1:08:03). Well done to Dan our first Championship winner of the season.

Claire Rogers went into IceMan at the top of the leaderboard after consistent second place finishes at WildMan and MudMan and this time around she was able to claim the first place finish (1:14:33), making her a strong favourite for victory in overall Women’s Trail Run Championship. Coming in second was Gemma Farrell (1:18:01) and Rachel Palin took third place in a time of 1:19:24.

The runners with dogs were set off at the back of the Trail Run athletes. Paul Chandler and his furry companion were the fastest over the 11km distance and Tim Fraser-Hook with his dog in the 16km event.
Finally the duathletes were under way at 10.30am, darting across the start line to take on the notoriously gruelling course.  Going into this event it was extremely tight at the top of the men’s standings; three athletes, Alex Dewar, Rick Fetherston and Roger Fowkes, being separated by just 1 point. But it was a new face, Ross Macdonald (1:5748) who was first home, followed by Fowkes (2:00:19) in second and then Dewar (2:03:05) in third, meaning it’s still all to play for in the next event of the series, TrailMan.

Photos (l-r): 16k winner Dan Falconar. 16k runners on the course

Series Leader in the women’s Duathlon Championship, Samantha Aplin (2:26:23) was beaten into fourth place by series rival Alena Stevens (2:26:25). The winner in the women’s duathlon event was Fay Cripps in a stunning time of 2:14:26, followed by second place competitor Rebecca Hoare (2:23:52).

The competitors were pleased to be fuelled around the challenging course with energy products from PowerBar and all finishers received some natural hydration from Vita Coco after crossing the finish line.

On 22nd of February the Human Race Off-Road Trail Run and Duathlon series will head to Eridge Park in Sussex for its finale, TrailMan, where athletes will compete in either an 6km or 13km run, or an off-road duathlon made up of a tough 6km run, 20km bike and further 6km run. We hope to see you there!

For full event results or for more information on the next series event, TrailMan, visit www.humanrace.co.uk/off-road

For more information about Human Race visit: www.humanrace.co.uk

For more information about the Rainbow Trust visit: www.rainbowtrust.org.uk/

Men's Duathlon results

Women's Duathlon results

Men's 16k results

Women's 16k results

Men's 11k results

Women's 11k results

Click here for full results